Cmdr. V'Lenn / Speaks with Welby / no tags

[Steve Bruin]

*** Main Shuttle Bay ***

:: V'Lenn had returned to the shuttle bay in order to again check the battered shuttlecraft for anything she might have missed earlier.  It seemed unlikely, but the curiosity of a Vulcan seldom knew many limits (and she was more curious than most).  Somehow, some form of energy had been discharged from that ship and it gnawed at her that she was unable to identify it, or where it came from. ::

:: Using a special tricorder, she herself had modified, she began to examine the interior of the shuttle yet again.  As per the last several scans there only seemed to be a form of residual particle energy, if only she could identify what it was.  It registered unlike anything in Federation technology, or Romulan, Breen, Klingon or anything else she had ever studied.  It seemed to have passed through the entire ship, possibly even erasing the on board data, but where had it gone and how had it gotten abaord? ::

:: Footsteps approaching from behind told V'Lenn that Miss Welby had received her message and was responding. ::

Welby: Commander? I got a message that you wished to see me.

V'Lenn: Yes, Nurse Welby.

  

Welby: Why in the world did you want to meet me here and not in sick bay?

V'Lenn: I wished to ask you a few questions about how you escaped the alien realm.

Welby: Okay, I'll try to help in any way I can.  I just not sure that I can tell you very much, it was all pretty chaotic.

V'Lenn: You and the others used the shuttle to escape, there was some kind of temporal opening that allowed you to return here? Is that correct?

:: V'Lenn remained stoic, her hands clasped behind her back and looking intently at Welby as if she were a prosecuting attorney and Welby was on the witness stand. ::

Welby: I really don't know what you would call it, all I can remember is the sky turned a few different colors and energy seemed to swirl about in the sky like fireworks.  The others grabbed me and we all rushed to the shuttle, Clifton was at the controls and we headed up into the atmosphere, all the while with lightning cracking around us and these strange lights circling the craft.

V'Lenn:  Have you any idea what these lights were?

Welby: Almost laughing : No, I was too busy hanging on to my chair and trying not to get thrown from one end of the shuttle to the other.  Clifton did a good job of piloting, I mean when you stop to consider how bad things were, I'm amazed we all got back in one piece.

V'Lenn: This temporal opening, did you see it?

Welby: Not really, just a lot of lights and the shuttle being tossed about from one side to the other.  All of a sudden Clifton and Gavin both pointed at something and the next thing I knew we were back home.

:: V'Lenn merely listened and tried amassing in her mind the fragments of information that Welby had given her.  She could really draw no concrete solutions, but a theory was forming in her mind.  

Welby: Well ... if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to sick bay.  We have a V.I.P. coming aboard and I want sick bay to be spotless.

V'Lenn: Yes, former Federation Senator Silva.

:: A very disdainful look crossed Welby's face, her feelings about the former Senator were even stronger than Clifton's.

Welby: Yes, a Senator who may as well have worn a Dominion uniform.  As far as I'm concerned, they should throw the woman out the nearest airlock, then again maybe not.  I mean we have enough space garbage floating around out there now, we don't need more. 

At hearing Welby's words, V'Lenn raised an eyebrow.  It was unlike Miss Welby to be so irate.

V'Lenn: Miss Welby, I am well aware of the former Senator's statements during the Dominion War, and her trip to the Vorta space station to meet a Founder.  It is important to remember that freedom of opinion and freedom of speech are cornerstones of the Federation and Starfleet.

Welby: Yeah, I just think free speech stops when you give aid and comfort to the enemy.  As far as I'm concerned, that's treason.  Commander I come from a military family, my father, two uncles, two brothers and few cousins were all in Starfleet.  Some of them didn't make it back, at least not alive.  So, I'm just all broken up if that woman's right to free speech gets stepped on a little while she's aboard.

V'Lenn: The war is over, Miss Welby.  Holding a grudge against someone at this point is illogical.

Welby: Tell that to someone whose brother isn't disabled for life sue to what happened in that war.

:: Welby left the area, leaving V'Lenn to wonder if she intended to caught trouble now that the former Senator was on board.

Cmdr. V'Lenn

Chief Engineer

USS Odyssey

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